Race relations in the UK could be further inflamed after a veteran Tory MP told a constituent that Enoch Powell, author of the notorious 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech, was correct to predict conflict caused by immigration.

In a letter to a constituent, Sir Gerald Howath, a former defence
minister and MP for Aldershot, referred to the “Trojan
horse” case, where it was revealed earlier this year that
Islamic extremists had allegedly taken over boards of governors
in Birmingham schools, the left-wing blog Political Scrapbook
reports.

“Clearly, the arrival of so many people of non-Christian
faith has presented a challenge, as so many of us, including the
late Enoch Powell, warned decades ago,” wrote the MP.

“Recent events have illustrated that some of these new
arrivals have a very different ethos from traditional Christian
schools and we are right to intervene to prevent them from
teaching divisive ideology to children born here.”

Powell's “Rivers of Blood” speech, given to the General
Meeting of the West Midlands Area Conservative Political Centre
in 1968, was a speech criticizing Commonwealth immigration, and
anti-discrimination legislation.

Although the phrase “rivers of blood” does not appear in
the speech, the name alludes to the line, “As I look ahead, I
am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see ‘the
River Tiber foaming with much blood.’” In the speech, Powell
predicted urban race riots if the rate of immigration to the UK
continued.

The speech caused a political storm, making Powell one of the
most talked about, though divisive, politicians in the country,
and led to his dismissal from the Shadow Cabinet by then-Tory
leader Edward Heath.

Howarth’s admiration for Powell has been revealed before when he
quoted him during the parliamentary debate called to mark the
death of Margaret Thatcher. He told MPs he had a handwritten
letter from Powell written after he had lost his West Midlands
seat in 1992.

In December last year, during a debate on immigration, Howarth
said: “The numbers are what [are] upsetting people. It is not
necessarily the colour of people’s skin, although, of course,
that brings different cultural challenges. It is the numbers—
that is what Enoch Powell was trying to draw attention to in
1968, for which, of course, he got roundly traduced.”

The MP, who chairs the Thatcherite pressure group Conservative
Way Forward, isn’t the first to court controversy by evoking
Powell. Nigel Hastilow, the Tory candidate in the West Midlands
seat of Halesowen and Rowley Regis, resigned in 2007 after
claiming Powell was correct in a newspaper article.

Howarth, who was a parliamentary colleague of Powell’s and
represented a seat in the West Midlands area until 1992, was a
defence minister from 2010 to 2012 and was knighted in 2012. The
MP was unable to comment, but a spokesperson for his office told
Political Scrapbook that Howarth “stands by every word”
of his message.